


The Librarians and the Oceanic Consultant

by Vicmackeybullshxt (RomanChronicles)



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Half-Siren OC, greek mythology shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27426244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanChronicles/pseuds/Vicmackeybullshxt
Summary: When your dad volunteers you to babysit an accidentally kidnapped Selkie, you don’t expect to run into your boyfriend. You also don’t expect him to be a Librarian.
Relationships: Jacob "Jake" Stone/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Librarians and the Oceanic Consultant

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to thank @therantygeek on tumblr for inspiring me to write the ‘Dumbest Version’ of some chapters for this fic, and for spending her game planning time helping me with headcanons- so many headcanons. She’s the MVP. I’d also like to thank @starrynite7114 for voluntarily reading the ‘Dumbest Versions’ and loving them even though she’s never seen the show. To the a Ladies of Discord, you rule!

The aquarium was quiet, except for the assorted splashing noises no human could hear. This was supposed to be my weekend off duty, but the locals had accidentally dinged a Selkie with a fishing boat and brought it in for medical attention three days ago, and Aunt Marjorie wasn’t happy they’d stolen her husband and were keeping him in a tank. When dad _volunteered_ me to babysit until I could figure out a way to steal Andrew back, I was not thrilled. I was supposed to be spending the weekend with my boyfriend, who had fortunately canceled before I could come up with an excuse for canceling our plans for dinner and the opera. It wasn’t a good opera to begin with, but this was Portland, Oregon, not Rome, so it’s not like there was much choice.   
As I passed the octopi exhibit, there was a smack in the tank before the lid slid open about an inch, and a tentacle popped out and waved at me before curling on itself and returning to the watery environment. I waved back, no point in being rude. 

“Hey darlin’, do you know where they keep the infirmary tanks?” Perhaps a normal person wouldn’t talk to an octopus, but I’m not exactly normal, or a person. I’m more half-person, not that anyone could tell if they looked at me. One of the perks of being a Siren is that we don’t have to constantly stay in saltwater like merfolk, which means we don’t have tails all the time. As the sheep would say: _four legs good, two legs better._ Two legs certainly beat having to crawl with a tail. 

The octopus gurgled. It was a very distinctive gurgle, because this octopus was from the southeastern Pacific. Apparently they kept the infirmary tanks near the scuba room. I thanked Janice and slipped her a small fish through the top of the tank, which she grasped handily with a silky, iridescent, blue-black tentacle. My bribe box, an old fashioned red and white cooler, had plenty of treats in it. Hopefully I wouldn’t run out before I could actually locate the scuba room.

I passed by the shark tanks and tried not to look. Sharks are fine but they can stay away from me. They’re basically sea jocks, and I was not interested in what passed for an equivalent of a human flexing contest. Not that I escaped without being catcalled, sharks are assholes, and if you’ve never been hit on by one, count yourself lucky. They’re about as subtle as a wrecking ball to the head and dumber than a sea urchin. I hid near a fire door to collect myself so I didn’t bust their tank wall with my ability to control water. I did however, create a whirlpool because they needed to learn to behave themselves. 

There was a whoosh and a flash of light by the fire doors, in what looked to be a supply closet. The aquarium wasn’t supposed to be open on Sundays, so I became the Siren version of Lamont Cranston, bending the water molecules in the air to give the effect of invisibility. I really didn’t want to find out what was behind door number one, but I didn’t have much of a choice in hiding places, so I stayed put. I was not expecting four people to walk out. I was also not expecting one of them to be my boyfriend. 

Even though it was widely known throughout the magical world that there were now four Librarians, most of the realms only knew Flynn Carsen and Ezekiel Jones, the latter only because he was in charge of a near disastrous conclave. Jacob Stone, art historian, polyglot, and Oklahoma cowboy was an excellent addition to the Library’s catalog of intelligence. It was a wonder I hadn’t made the connection before. After a year of dating, I really should have figured it out. Of course, they were probably also here for Andrew, which would be helpful because selkies aren’t exactly the easiest to move by yourself, it would also mean my job of babysitting would be harder, but especially if I had to concentrate on being ‘invisible’ the entire time. On the other hand, I couldn’t pick an electronic lock to save my life, so following them around would definitely work in my favor. 

“Another supply closet? Really Jenkins?” The exasperated Australian was coming out of Ezekiel full throttle. I managed to suppress a giggle at how odd his voice sounded coming out of his mouth. 

“At least it wasn’t a port-o’-john like last time… where _are_ we?” The redhead waved her hands around in a controlled manner, like she was accessing invisible schematics. “According to the blueprints, the infirmary tanks are directly under us, there should be a stairway to the bottom somewhere… that way!” She pointed down the hall near where the colorful coral reef fish were advertised as being. 

“Let’s go find that damn selkie so we can get the hell out of here.” My Oklahoman boyfriend was as grumpy as I was irritated, so at least I knew he wasn’t enjoying this. _I guess this is kind of like a date, right?_ I was going to be following him everywhere like normal, of course that was usually in art museums and not in aquariums. Considering oceanic creatures were _my_ specialty, _I_ should have been leading _him_ around. 

The four walked towards where _Cassandra, yeah, Cassandra_ had said the stairway was, and I followed a good ten paces behind, concentrating on the water molecules surrounding me. With the reflection from the glass walls of the tanks, I was going to have more difficulty with the mock invisibility than I expected. At least the floor was carpeted so my sneakers wouldn’t squeak and alert anyone. Normally, I would have tried pulling water molecules under my feet as well, giving the effect of walking on air, but I didn’t think I could pull that off too. 

They stopped short of the door, letting Ezekiel practice his thief techno wizardry on the door’s card reader. After a few seconds, the light turned green and the door lock clicked open. 

“Amazing as usual, mate,” he said to himself smugly. Stone grumbled. The blonde Guardian went through the door first, the others going in file behind her like baby ducks. _Guess that makes me duckling number four_. I slipped through the door and let it close behind me. Because I was the last one in, they were already partway down the stairs, so I waited until they turned on one of the landings and disappeared out of my vision before following, just to minimize my chances of being seen. With any luck, no one would know I was here. Well, except for Andrew. Hopefully he didn’t spoil the whole thing. 

By the time we had all gotten to the basement, they’d turned a corner and left, but had gone in the wrong direction according to Janice. The scuba room and the infirmary were on the left, not the right. I speed walked down the hall, hoping I’d get lucky and the door would be open. _Thank Fortuna,_ it was. I quickly located a copy of the shift rotation, the biologist on sight wouldn’t be in to check on Andrew for another three hours, which would give me plenty of time to find any samples they’d taken. 

Unfortunately, I could hear footsteps coming up the hall. For Librarians, they sure were noisy. I quickly rearranged the water again, and stood in a corner by the lab fridge. Andrew barked. _Aww hell, not now._

“Be very quiet Andrew. I’m not here.” At least since he was a magical creature I didn’t have to speak out loud like I had with Janice. Andrew quit barking, but still looked at me intently. 

“This is our missing Selkie,” Ezekiel asked incredulously. Considering Andrew was the only animal in the infirmary, it wasn’t like there could be any confusion. 

“How exactly are we moving this thing out of here?” Andrew made a bark and smacked his flippers against the rock he was sitting on, like a fifty year old with a beer gut watching high school football practice in July with the temperature reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Jacob was lucky there was glass separating him from Andrew, who was very pissed off at being called a ‘thing’. Leave it to my boyfriend to insult one of the high ranking members of the Ocean Guild. 

“Jones, go find a van and hot wire it, we can drive him to the beach if we have to. Cassie, figure out how we’re going to get him down from the tank, Stone, help me lift the lid on this thing.” Colonel Eve Baird, Guardian, was good at giving orders. The tank lid would take at least two people to shift it, that was for certain. Ezekiel had disappeared before she could get halfway through Cassie’s instructions. Jacob and Colonel Baird were already working on the lid while Cassie was doing that weird hand thing again. I really hoped Andrew wouldn’t get his revenge on Jake until after he was out of the tank.

There was a lot of grunting before the lid was moved enough for Andrew to get out. Cassie wheeled over one of those mechanical platforms warehouses used to raise and lower workers to inspect stock, and positioned it by the tank before setting it at the correct height. I wasn’t sure if it could handle the weight of a fully grown selkie, but short of a makeshift stretcher attached to a pulley system, that was the only way to get Andrew out. He hoisted himself, as much as a selkie in seal form can, over the side of the tank onto the metal platform, which dropped a few inches when he flopped onto it dramatically. _Even Sonny Bono didn’t fail that miserably on his Emmy nomination tapes_. 

By the time they’d lowered him to the ground, Ezekiel had called saying he’d found them a ride. Andrew slid onto the floor, and his first moment towards the door whacked Jake in the shins with his flippers. Jake bent a little with the impact, but other than the normal pain of getting whacked in the shins, seemed to be okay. At least Andrew’s tail wasn’t long enough for his flippers to reach any higher… just in case this job ended early, I didn’t want my boyfriend bruised in other places too. 

I stayed behind as the two Librarians and their Guardian walked out the door after Andrew, who was flopping the whole way, like a seal. I giggled once they were out of range. I’d seen him in human form plenty of times and he looked like sculptures of Adonis. I could see why Marjorie wanted him back. I opened the lab fridge and grabbed a list of all of the samples, scanning it for the ones belonging to Andrew. The only ones belonging to him were a couple of blood vials, which I took and put in my cooler to be disposed of in a safe location. I’d dump them in the garbage in the apartments across the street from mine, which was a biohazard, yes, but much better than tossing them in the ocean.

Walking out of the place was a lot easier than hiding in a bathroom on Saturday until well after closing time. My car was parked a couple of blocks away, near a diner. My stomach growled. Clearly, it was protesting my missing breakfast. I did get a Farmer’s omelette after stashing the cooler in my car, which helped tremendously with that issue. 

Later, once I was parked in my complex, I grabbed a couple of plastic grocery bags and dumped the cooler’s contents into them, making sure to place the bags inside of each other to prevent leaking. From there, it was easy to dump the bag and head back to mine for a shower and hopefully a long rendezvous with my bed.

The next morning, around seven o’clock, once I was fully caffeinated and dressed in workout gear, I noticed the white envelope on my entry rug. It stuck out like a marshmallow on a Thanksgiving turkey. Leaning down, I picked it up carefully, not that I thought anyone would send me anthrax spores, but it was almost impossible to be too careful with an unlabeled, unstamped envelope. Flipping it over, I recognized the compass insignia on the front. _New York Metropolitan Public Library?_ Didn’t every kid who grew up with stories about The Library want to work _for_ The Library? I opened it slowly, not because the flap was glued down but because I wanted to give myself time to change my mind. _Why? I don’t know, he’s on third, and I don’t give a darn._

Up until this point, the coolest thing I’d ever done was spend my twenty first birthday on Olympus. Being part legendary supernatural creature from Ancient Greek mythology has its perks. That lingerie set I got from Aphrodite was _fantastic._ I held my breath as I pulled the stationary out, and watched it self engrave magically. _You have been selected to interview for a prestigious position with the Metropolitan Public Library._ I wasn’t sure that what I was wearing was anywhere near appropriate for a normal interview, but any job The Library offered positions for was abnormal. 

I grabbed my purse and keys, threw on a raincoat and my trusty pair of brown leather boots, and unceremoniously stuffed the invitation and its envelope in my jacket pocket. My phone ended up in the other pocket, bulging out due to the tight fit. Locking my door on the way out, the only thing I could think of was that I hoped my boyfriend was late to work today. I was not ready for that conversation. 

The Library, or where it was located now, was under St. John’s Bridge in Portland. Surprisingly, no tourists were around to Instagram pictures, which I thought was odd. Maybe the Library gave off a warning signal? Parking the car, I took a deep breath and braced myself before walking to the door, then did it again before ringing the doorbell. I suppose I could have walked straight in, but I didn’t exactly have a scheduled appointment, like I’d had before when dad or grandma had wanted to skip a meeting with someone else and left me in charge. 

The door opened a crack, revealing one of Colonel Baird’s eyes.

“Can I help you?” I pulled the invitation out of my pocket, a little bent, but still frameable. 

“I’m here to see Galahad… or Jenkins, whatever he’s in the mood to be called.” The door opened the rest of the way, and she motioned me in, closing it securely before walking me to the back room, where Jenkins usually spent his time. The Library was oddly quiet, so I guessed that everyone else had decided not to come in early. 

“Miss Conti, good to see you.” Jenkins’ voice was his normal tone, unless you had very good hearing. He seemed unsurprised, as usual. I slid the invitation across his desk and plopped down on one of the chairs unceremoniously. It was too early for this. He didn’t even bother to look at the invitation, in his usual Jenkins way, because he knew virtually everything, like a Genovian maid. _Princess Mia, I was not._

We talked, as much as Jenkins wanted to, in the language of the waves, which sounds quite calming and musical to human ears. The interview was cut short by the main Annex door opening.

“Would you mind only referring to me with the title of Guardian, and not my other one?” 

“Of course.” Jenkins may have been slightly abrasive to some people, but he could be pleasant when he wanted to be, the grouchy old sod. 

Colonel Baird walked out to greet her Librarians, although, we’d be sharing that job now, I supposed. 

“Clippings book do anything yet? I could use a day off for once.” 

“No, but we did get a new Guardian.” I poked my head out of the back room and locked eyes with my boyfriend. _Oops._

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If you’d like to see Sonny Bono trying for an Emmy, search *Sonny and Cher Vamps with Napoleon*. If you’d like to know *Who’s on First?* search for Abbot and Costello. Research shows that St. Johns Bridge is extremely instagrammable.


End file.
